Newcastle upon Tyne born author and poet Keith Armstrong has been and remains an inescapable figure in the creative life of North East England.

Overview

Keith Armstrong is a writer from

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as publish ...

. He was born at home in Danby Gardens, Heaton,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...

. His varied career has embraced community development worker, poet, librarian and publisher. Between 1980 and 1986 he held the post of Community Arts Development Worker with

Peterlee Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It lies between Sunderland to the north, Hartlepool to the south, the Durham Coast to the east and Durham to the west. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946. The act also cr ...

Community Arts (later East Durham Community Arts). In recent years home has been the seaside town of

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...

. He is coordinator of Northern Voices Community Projects which specialises in creative writing and community publishing. Over the years various community arts festivals in the region and many literary events have been organised. He has compiled and edited books on the Durham Miners' Gala, on the former mining communities of County Durham, the market town of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administ ...

and on North Tyneside heritage in ''From

Segedunum Segedunum was a Roman fort at modern-day Wallsend, North Tyneside in North East England. The fort lay at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall (in Wallsend) near the banks of the River Tyne, forming the easternmost portion of the wall. It was in u ...

Spanish City The Spanish City is a dining and leisure centre in Whitley Bay, a seaside town in North Tyneside, Tyne & Wear, England. Erected as a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, it opened in 1910 as a concert hall, restaurant, roof garden and ...

''. The latter in 2007 was one of the projects generated through Northern Voices Community Projects at

. Keith's poetry has been extensively published in magazines as well as in collections and on radio & TV. He has also written for music-theatre productions. He has performed his poetry on several occasions at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and at Festivals in Bradford, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Greenwich, Lancaster. As an industrial librarian, he was christened 'Arts & Darts', organising poetry readings, theatrical productions, and art exhibitions by his fellow workers, as well as launching Ostrich poetry magazine using the firm's copying facilities and arranging darts matches between departments! He has been a self-employed writer since 1986 and in 2007 he was awarded a PhD, on the work of Newcastle writer Jack Common, at the

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_ch ...

from where he also received a BA Honours Degree in Sociology in 1995 and master's degree in 1998 for his studies on regional culture in the North East of England. He has held many residencies in the North East, including Hexham Racecourse as part of Year of the Artist in 2000 and at The Grand Hotel

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne ...

in 2010. Keith has long pioneered cultural exchanges with Durham's twinning partners, particularly

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thre ...

and Nordenham in Germany and

Ivry-sur-Seine Ivry-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Paris's main Asian district, the Quartier Asiatique in the 13th arrondissement, borders the ...

and Amiens in France, as well as with Newcastle's Dutch twin-city of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. He enjoys mixing travel and work with folk-musicians from North East England. A key collaborator has been Gary Miller and Armstrong wrote the lyrics for a 1995 album called ''Bleeding Sketches'', by folk-rock band

The Whisky Priests ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

, with whom he has toured extensively in The Netherlands. This association dates back to November 1989 and has been well charted. Another Armstrong/Miller collaboration in 2003 remembered the

Riot of 1761. Keith has edited and published a book to celebrate the centenary of

. This is a notable piece of architecture being an early example of Hennebique concrete construction from 1910. Recognition of his contribution to culture has come in Durham University establishing
Keith Armstrong collection

Selected commentators & reviewers comments

'Our latterday Thomas Spence.' (John Charlton, North East History) 'No one in the North East has written and read and encouraged and organised so consistently and over so long a period as Keith Armstrong. His poetry is different, original, and politically exhilarating.' (Andy Croft, Smokestack Books) ‘There are those who tell the terrible truth in all its loveliness. Keith Armstrong is one of them, a fine poet who refuses to turn his back on the wretched of the Earth. He is one of the best and I hope his voice will be heard more and more widely.' (Adrian Mitchell, Poet) 'Keith's poems raised goose pimples but also thoughts about today's culture.' (Peter Lewis, Hexham Courant) 'Keith is a noted Geordie wordsmith, a bloke whose musings were always radical, though of their place.' (Folk Roots magazine) 'An absolute must for anyone seeking a bit more than meaningless lyrics and musical nihilism.' (Charmaine O'Reilly, in 'The Edge' speaking of ''Bleeding Sketches''http://www.garymillersongs.com/projects.php This sources Charmaine O'Reilly quote.)

Selected bibliography

*''Common Words & the Wandering Star: Jack Common (1903–1968)'', Keith Armstrong, University of Sunderland Press 2009. *''The Big Meeting: Peoples View of the Durham Miners' Gala'', Keith Armstrong,TUPS, Newcastle 1994. *''The Grit and the Glory: The Footballing Traditions of Wear Valley in the Words of Local People'' by Keith Armstrong (ed), 1989. *''From Segedunum to Spanish City'' by Keith Armstrong and Peter Dixon, Northern Voices Community Projects, Whitley Bay, 2010. *''The Month of the Asparagus: Selected Poems by Keith Armstrong'', Ward Wood Publishing, London 2011. *''Splinters: Poems by Keith Armstrong'', Hill Salad Books (Breviary Stuff Publications), London 2011. *''Pains of Class'', Keith Armstrong, Artery Publications, London 1982. *''Dreaming North (book and LP)'', Keith Armstrong, Portcullis Press, Gateshead Libraries 1986. *''The Jingling Geordie: Selected Poems 1970–1990'', Keith Armstrong, The Common Trust Rookbook Publications, Edinburgh 1990. *''Our Village. Memories of the Durham Mining Communities'', Keith Armstrong, The People's History, Durham 2000. *''Bless'd Millennium: The Life and Work of Thomas Spence'', Keith Armstrong, Northern Voices, Whitley Bay 2000. *''The Town of Old Hexham'', Keith Armstrong, The People's History, Durham 2002. *''Imagined Corners'', Keith Armstrong, Smokestack Books, Middlesbrough 2004. *''Wallington Morning'', Keith Armstrong, Wild Boar Books, Lincoln 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Keith 1946 births Living people Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne Alumni of Durham University English male poets

Overview

Selected commentators & reviewers comments

Further reading

Selected bibliography

References